My father was aboard subs at Okinawa and Iwo Jima prior to the initial invasions. He has talked about the "football" so named because of it's shape. He says that when they were submerged, it was inflated and attached was an antenea so that they could communicate while under water. It was top secret at the time. I was at a Marine Corp reunion a few years ago and the man was from a more recent war (I guess they all are now...lol) said, "Oh yeah, they still used them when I was on a sub." He knew all about it. Well, I didn't know how hard it would become to find information on it, or I would have gotten his name! Does anyone know about this "football"? Anyone know where I can see a photo of it? I don't imagine it is needed any more, with all of the technological advances since then. Thank you. Karen
Not found an actual picture of the ones used in WW2 - what you are talking about is just a buoy with an antenna on it, so not much special to look at. still used today - depending on the frequency and data type required for transmission; some may have just been used for passively picking up transmissions. Communication with submarines - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia From this site; http://harpgamer.com/harpforum/lofiversion/index.php?t3527.html a list of more recent models
Don't know if you came across this site yet Karen - if not thought it could be useful for your research; US Navy Submarine Operations in World War II Against the Empire of Japan
